Fact Check: Video Of Congress MLA Grabbing Wife’s Hand Shared with Misleading Claim
In the viral video, Odisha MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati was shaking hands with his wife Meenakshi after garlanding her. Users on social media are circulating the video along with a misleading claim.
- By: Pallavi Mishra
- Published: Oct 16, 2024 at 05:20 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News). Elections have recently wrapped up in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir, and the Election Commission has announced the dates for upcoming polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. With election season in full swing, political parties are fully engaged in their preparations. Meanwhile, a video is going viral on social media, in which a man can be seen forcibly shaking hands with a woman after garlanding her and making a flying kiss gesture. By sharing this video, some social media users are claiming that it is a Congress leader who has insulted this woman.
Vishvas News fact-checked the claim and found that the claim is misleading. The man in the video is Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati and the woman he was showing affection towards, is his wife Meenakshi Bahinipati.
What is the viral post?
Facebook user Sutharson Ramakrishnan (archive link) posted the video on October 11 and wrote, “Senior Congress leader welcoming the woman as Congress member with full respect. Just spit some and go”
Investigation
To investigate the viral post, we searched for key frames of the video using Google Lens. We found the video uploaded on News18 Odia’s YouTube channel on December 29, 2022. It was titled, ମଞ୍ଚ ଉପରୁ Flying Kiss କରିଚାଲିଲେ Taraprasad Bahinipati | Politician | Viral Video | Odia News. Which translates to “Taraprasad Bahinipati gave a flying kiss from the stage.”
We also found related news published on the news website, latestly on January 9, 2023. The news report said that Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati was seen giving a flying kiss to his wife Meenakshi Bahinipati during an event. Taraprasad is an MLA from Jeypore Assembly of Odisha.
We also found this viral video on Bahinipati’s official Facebook page, where it features two additional clips from the event, showing his wife standing beside him.
The viral post had gone viral in the past as well with a false claim. Last time when Vishvas News contacted Congress MLA Taraprasad, he confirmed, ‘It is my wife with me in the viral video.’
We scanned the profile of Facebook user ‘Sutharson Ramakrishnan’ who shared the video. According to his profile, he lives in Tamil Nadu and has more than 5 thousand friends on Facebook.
Conclusion: In the viral video, Odisha MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati was shaking hands with his wife Meenakshi after garlanding her. Users on social media are circulating the video along with a misleading claim.
- Claim Review : Congress leader has insulted this woman.
- Claimed By : Facebook user Sutharson Ramakrishnan
- Fact Check : False
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